The present invention relates generally to activation devices for toy vehicles and for toy vehicle accessories and, more particularly, to lever and wheel activated toy vehicles and toy vehicle accessories.
Toy vehicles, such as toy cars and trucks, are widely available in various configurations including those operated by a small electric motor or purely mechanical vehicles with wheels that spin freely (“free-wheeling”). Some of these toy vehicles include a mechanized accessory or body part which gives the toy added novelty for the user. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,727 (“Swisher et al.”) discloses a purely mechanical toy vehicle having a base or chassis with six freely spinning wheels and a top or body portion which is pivotally linked to the base of the toy vehicle by a pair of standoffs. The Swisher toy vehicle provides an external handle that is basically an extension of a lower part of the link which allows the user to rotate the entire top portion of the vehicle to a position higher than the base to give the toy vehicle a different overall appearance.
Another toy vehicle that is purely mechanical and that has a mechanized accessory is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,619 B1 (“Agostini et al.”). Agostini discloses a toy fire truck of the free-wheeling variety that has a projectile launching tube rotatably mounted to the roof. The projectile launching tube is accompanied by a launching handle and a sound effect control handle. The launching handle is used to compress and release a launching spring. The sound effect control handle is used to raise and lower the launching tube and provides various buttons for initiating sound effects.
Yet another more complicated, purely mechanical toy vehicle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,384 (“Ryan et al.”). Ryan discloses a rocket launching truck where the launcher is located on the bed of the truck and is capable of being raised and lowered. A lever is provided which is used to actuate a spring and flywheel system for both launching a toy rocket and for propelling the toy truck.
Another variety of toy vehicle includes a small motor and gear system for propulsion and for operation of vehicle accessories, such as the toy fire truck disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,056 (“Tsai”). Tsai discloses a fire truck having a ladder that raises and lowers automatically by a power train that also causes a miniature fireman figure to scale and descend the ladder. The same power train also provides propulsion for the fire truck by way of a set of small drive wheels and causes other fireman figurines to partially rotate out the sides of the doors.
What is needed but not provided for in the prior art is a lever or wheel activated toy vehicle having a moveable part which exposes or reveals various hidden surfaces and/or figurines during play. What is also needed and not provided by the prior art is a lever or wheel activated toy vehicle having a moveable part which reveals such hidden surfaces or figurines during play automatically and/or sequentially.